Cover and cover-holder for boots or shoes



(No Model.)

. v 0. E. SMITH. v COVER-AND COVER HOLDER FOR BOOTS OR SHOES. No. 599,133. Patented Feb. 15,1898.

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NiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. SMITI-I,-OF NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

COVER AND COVER-HOLDER FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,133, dated February 15 1898. Application filed May 14, 1896. Serial No. 591,502. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. SMITH, of New Bed ford, county of Bristol, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Covers and Cover-Holders for Boots or Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

In the manufacture of boots and shoes the uppers are very frequently soiled by the hands of the workmen and by other causes, which it is the object of my invention to guard against. I provide a fibrous or cloth cover for the shoe, it covering the top of the shoe and more or less or all of the upper and, preferably, also the inner side of the top, and with this cover I employ a holder to keep it in place on the shoe.

My improved cover will preferably have a pocket at its outer side to receive one of the arms of the holder, and the holder will preferably have a projecting portion to enter or engage the pulling-strap.

Figure 1 shows a shoe provided with my invention, the cover being mostly broken away. Fig. 2 is a view showing the entire holder, with the shoe in section and removed from one-half of the holder. Fig. 3 shows the holder in perspective. Fig. 4 is a modified form of holder.

The shoe, composed of a vamp A, a sole 13, top 0, and strap D, is and may be of any usual shape or material.

To prevent the top and upper from becoming soiled or injured while attaching it to the sole or otherwise finishing the shoe, I have provided a cover E of such shape and size as to enter the top of the shoe at 6, fold over the outside of the top, as at c, and extend down, it may be, to and over the edge of the sole, thus covering the whole or any part of the exterior of the top and vamp.

The portion of the cover lying on the outer side of the top near its upper will preferably be provided with a pocket e having an opening near or at the upper end of the top.

The holder F is shown as composed of wire bent to form two pairs of spring-fingers f f united to a common handle f and this handle is shown as provided with a strap-engaging device f to enter the loop of, the strap D,

the engaging device having a stop or hook f to overlap the strap entered by the part f The portions 2 of the handle of the holder below the twisted portion f are separated and carried down to the point 3, when the wire of which the holder is composed is bent directly forward or at right angles from the portion 2 to form the springs ff, and when thevholder is applied to the top of the shoe the handle and its portions 2 pass down outside of the top, and the part f of the holder moves over the cover applied to the top, while the inner and downwardly-bent portion f of the spring passes down on the cover inside of the top of the shoe. The spring-fingers f are separated from the fingers f to leave a space for the reception of the upper edge of the top and the cover applied to it, and the fingers f f enter the said pocket at the outside of the top, while the fingers f f rest against the cover at the inner side of the top. As the holder is applied the ends of the fingers f f are pushed down against the inclined side of the pocket until the strap engaging device is at the proper level to enter the strap, the strain of the cover acting to keep the engaging device in the strap.

The strap-holder is shown as standing sub stantially vertically but this is not essential, and it'may be more or less inclined from a perpendicular and yet serve the purpose of my invention.

The straps D of shoes vary-considerably, and therefore to cause the holder always to fit snugly and to adjust itself automatically I have made the pocket with inclined sides, the inclined sides thereof constantly wedging against the spring-fingers and causing the latter to continually tend to work upwardly and maintain the bar f snugly against the strap D.

My improved holder will preferably be made from wire, and the spring fingers or jaws may be variously altered in shape and yet be within the scope of my invention; but it might be made of other metal than wire, shaped to operate as described. 7

This invention is not limited to the exact shape shown for the pocket, nor to locating it always at the outside of the top,for said pocket may be located at the inner side of the top, and it may be closed or cut at its bottom.

Fig. 4 shows a modified form of holder,

wherein the fingers h h enter the top and the fingers h h act on the cover outside the top. Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A cover for the top of a shoe, said cover being provided with a pocket adapted to cooperate with a holder engaging the shoe-strap,

and having means to automatically project" and made as springs, one portion of the said springs being bent inwardly and downwardly to embrace the edges of the top of the shoe 20 and its applied cover, to operate substantially as described.

3. A cover for a shoe-top, combined with a holder to embrace the cover and hold it on the top, said holder being provided with a 25 strap-holder, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES H. SMITH.

WVitnesses WILLIAM H. PERRY, M. EMMA CALHooN. 

